I have seen the Liberty up close and personal when it was at the Autoshow here in town (I was incharge of the computers there) .. my take on it ..

Independant Front Suspension (IFS - inferior front suspension) looks like it was taken from an S-10 pickup truck.

Coil-sprung Rear Suspension looks like it was pulled out of the TJ.

Body/Interior looks like a car body .. slightly higher than standard cars. Almost like a Rav4 or CRV on steroids.

Rumour has it the Liberty did the Rubicon .. only it was the easy trails, there was a team of rock stackers to go before the Liberty, and a team of un-rock stackers after the Liberty went through that part of the trail. Gates were opened for by-passes for this "car" as well.

My personal opinion: Don't buy it as a 4x4 for the trails .. get it as an all-wheel drive car for the highway .. and maybe the back alley. I can't see any of the aftermarket suppliers making lift kits and such to make it a more capable vehicle .. and if they do, expect to pay huge dollars for the kits.

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Hello, my name is Vance and I am a Jeepaholic.Its better to be naked with your friends, than to be clothed with your enemiesSilver2006 TJ Unlimited, zombie ready as the daily-driver

You know, when Willy's sold out to AMC people had the same problems .. and when Chrysler released the YJ people were rightly pizzed off .. and then the TJ came out, and people wondered why the coils .. but all these changes have been good, and keeping with the solid axle setup has been the best thing of all ..

im sure its a very capable suv...(SUV)but id get the kia,im sure its cheaper.i bet chrysler will sell a heap of them to soccer moms and young girls.its definatly not aimed at the serious off roaders.their are alot of soccer moms and young girls that will buy this type of automoble.

Please say this is a joke????? If not, it looks like land rover is going to be getting new large following. Since it will be the only live axle rig available.

I hate to dissapoint you but the next Land Rover is going to be based off of the Exploder. Thank you Ford.

And you already know about Land Rover's Rav4-fighter... So it's all part of the cycle. Jeep is just the newest casualty. Hopefully there will be few buyers for these "improved" Jeeps and they'll revert back to solid axle 4x4s rather than creature-comfort glorified AWD grocery-getters.

OK I got curious and so I've been looking at stats on Carpoint...
The 2001 vs 2000 XJ vs 2002 KJ: All Limited 4x4's

Torque
2000: 235
2001: 225
2002: 235

Fuel Economy
2000: 16-20
2001: 15-20
2002: 16-20

Rear Shoulder Room
2000: 54.7
2001: 54.1
2002: 56.5

Curb Weight:
2000: 3353
2001: 3371
2002: 4070

Wow! The Liberty is a bloated PIG!
It looks like a bunch of standard features on the 2000 Limited were optional for 2001...

What we have here is DC making the '01 XJ less of a vehicle than it was in '00 so the '02 looks like it's much better. But really it's only better on pavement, where that extra 700 pounds of bloat can smooth out the potholes. With decreased ground clearance and 2 more pounds/hp (3 more lbs/ft-lb than the 2000 even!) It's performance is going to suffer. One of the reasons Toyota trucks perform so well off road is their high ground clearance and low weight.
The Liberty represents a step backwards in every aspect of why WE would buy a Jeep. But there are too many posers who buy them because they want to look cool while driving to work. For those people, if it looks good, says Jeep on the front, and rides better on the pavement, it's all excellent. Unfortunately the German's agree with them.

can you say Mercedes-Benz? Take for example one noticable trait of that brand of vehicle: window controls on center console. It seems to me that the promise of not cross-breeding Benz and Chrysler has been broken.

Most likely the ONLY thing keeping MB from absorbing the Chrysler products and dropping the name is that MB doesn't DO mini-vans.
Those Germans in charge over there have no CLUE what we want, and they don't care either. I wish they would just make Jeeps for those who want to drive them like Jeeps, and let the posers shop elsewhere.